


we were born to run

by godsrevolver



Category: Cow Chop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Angst, Fake Chop, M/M, Sadness, Sexual Tension, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-03 02:26:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10957743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godsrevolver/pseuds/godsrevolver
Summary: When James came to Aleks and told him he wanted to start his own crew, Aleks couldn't believe him. Now, over a year into the group, 'Cow Chop' has left their mark in LA, and the pace only gets quicker.But with Aleks and James deeming themselves co-leaders of the group, there's bound to be conflict, but maybe not the kind the others would expect.(slow build romance, fake chop/GTA au)





	1. Memoria (Prologue)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to a tumblr anon who suggested the prompt for this chapter!
> 
> As usual, unbeta'd, all mistakes are mine.

_August, 2014_

Aleks never forgot his first gun.

It was a shiny, black Glock 22 he had received at age 19 from Jordan, who had bragged about how he had nabbed it off of a dead policeman. The gun was smooth along the sides, barely worn down. It hadn’t been used very often, Jordan had said, quite the rarity for a cop.

Aleks remembered how it felt to hold it for the first time. It was a Goldilocks-like weight in his hands: not too heavy that he would get tired with it, but not too light where he could drop it. Aleks felt powerful with it in his hands, knowing it had the ability to injure or kill. 

He had first used it in training, the grueling week-long session Jordan had forced everyone through. They had all spent a week in the woods, James bitching about the bugs and the lack of need for the trip. Jordan made everyone sleep in tents, and would wake them up at different hours each day to get them used to shooting at any hour, light or dark. It wasn’t people they would shoot, but rather targets that Jordan had concocted out of paper, twine, and sticks. After that stage, they had moved on to animals, which became the source of food for the latter half of the week. The less animals shot, the less they ate. Jordan had claimed it was for motivation.

The last day was when it turned serious.

Jordan had let everyone sleep in until noon, and had prepared a full breakfast with more than enough to go around. As they sat in silence eating, Seamus had spoken up.

“There’s no fuckin’ way this means anything good,” he had said through a mouthful of eggs. “What’re you gonna do today, kill us?”

“I can’t tell you yet,” Jordan had replied nonchalantly with a shrug. “Just eat your breakfast and get focused.”

After they had all finished eating, Jordan had split them into pairs for the day. Naturally, Seamus was paired with Dan, leaving James to be Aleks’s partner. 

“So,” Jordan had begun with a clap of the hands. “Today will be something a little different, which is why I’ve paired you all up. We’re doing a bit of live target practice.”

“What the fuck do you mean, live target practice?” James had objected.

“Just let me explain,” Jordan had said. “We’ll start off with one person as the shooter. Now, obviously, you’re not aiming to kill or injure, but come close. The other person will dodge the bullets.”

“What exactly is the point of this, then?” Seamus had huffed. 

“To learn how to not die when you’re getting shot at. You can’t just survive on marksmanship alone. You have to know how get out,” Jordan had explained, remarkably calm for the amount of shit he was getting. “Since you and James want to complain, you can be the first to dodge.”

“Motherfucker,” Aleks had heard James mutter under his breath. “If you hit me, Aleksandr, you’re in deep shit.”

Jordan had set everyone up in a clearing to prevent the possibility of ricocheting bullets, the targets standing almost a hundred feet away with the idea of moving them closer each round. The rounds lasted a minute each, and Aleks initially felt comfortable.

Actually starting was a different story. Aleks had gotten used to hitting paper or small animals, knowing it was either harmless or for a greater good. He came to realize he wasn’t remotely ready to be shooting at a living, breathing, person. He was so terrified, in fact, he didn’t hear Jordan call start. He held the starting position, elbows only slightly bent, gun out, finger on the trigger; but he couldn’t find the guts to start.

“Are you gonna shoot me or what?” He had heard James call from a distance. The noise scared Aleks, making him accidently shoot a bullet directly at James’s head.

“What the fuck?” James had yelled, nearly dropping to the ground in surprise. “You almost fucking killed me!”

“Sorry,” Aleks had managed to call out, throat feeling tight. He exhaled and repositioned himself, steadied his arms, and fired once more. Then twice. And a third time. Aleks found himself getting more comfortable the more he got done with the clip. 

By the time the last round came and James was only a few feet away from him, it was a cakewalk for Aleks. He took pride in his accuracy, which according to James’s jumps, had been on point. Jordan had commended him at the end of the day for it.

“You’re remarkable, Aleks,” he had said with an accompanying pat on the back. “Better than some higher-ups I’ve seen. You’re a valuable asset to the Hub.”

If only Aleks could go back to those days.

 

_May, 2016_

The all-too familiar ringing of a bank alarm snapped him back into his situation. He wasn’t with the Hub anymore, and they certainly weren’t off in the woods. He was at a bank, in the middle of a job, and he was supposed to be on guard, not daydreaming.

“Aleks, we have to fucking go,” James yelled over the alarm, tugging at Aleks’s sleeve. James held pistol in one hand, and carried two stuffed duffel bags in the other. Brett carried the other three with ease.

The three bolted from out of the vault, pushing past the shot-through glass of the door that led to it. Aleks felt out of focus and hazy, nearly tripping over a dead guard’s body as they made their way to the lobby. James’s phone rang, causing him to stop in his tracks, the other two nearly colliding with him. He picked it up.

“Anna?’ James barked into the phone desperately as he fumbled to put it on speaker.

“I don’t know why that alarm went off, I even double checked everything I had changed in the system,” Anna responded in a tone of slight panic. “Asher only left a minute ago with the car, but you don’t have enough time before the cops show up. You’re going to have to improvise, James, I’m sorry.”

“How much time do you think we have?” James glanced up to the outside parking lot briefly.

“Less than five minutes. Get going.” The line clicked.

“I noticed a car out front earlier, and it’s still there,” James explained quickly as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. “We wouldn’t have to wire it, but there’s someone inside it.”

“We’d better fuckin’ hurry then,” Brett insisted, pushing past James to the front of the door, scoping around outside. 

With the time being close to 3 in the morning, the parking lot was mostly empty. The car in question was a black SUV, and Aleks was able to make out in the dark that it was a Mercedes. It looked fairly worn, but Aleks could tell it was a good choice. It was parked in the adjacent supermarket parking lot, lights on with the passenger’s side facing the bank. 

“Aleks, you need to be the one going out there,” James said, breaking Aleks’s moment of concentration. “Brett and I can’t, it’s too dangerous.”

“I don’t have time to get it from him,” Aleks argued back. 

“You don’t need to say anything. You just need to kill him.” Brett said coldly. 

James interrupted. “He hasn’t killed anyone before, Brett, just let me––”

“Aleks, get the fuck out there and get that car, or we’ll all be charged with a fucking felony,” Brett hissed. 

Aleks glared at Brett and back at James, who had worried look on his face. He knew he could kill, but he was terrified of freezing up. He made his way to the door and pushed it open, turning back one last time before running up towards the car. 

Aleks ran up and crouched behind it, praying silently that he hadn’t been seen. He peaked around the corner to the driver’s side, noticing that the window was down and the driver was on the phone. Perfect.

He drew his gun, a Colt pistol he had gotten from James for his birthday. It was bigger than his Glock, with a phrase in Russian on the side he had etched in. It was heavy, and felt like a stranger in his palm. He had never used it, only held it to keep watch. Though this was only the group’s third heist, Aleks wasn’t usually the one to kill, but rather lead the operation. With Joe and Trevor both injured from the previous job, the rest had to change ranks. 

Aleks slowly began moving on his hands and knees, sitting himself just before the driver’s door. The driver was still on the phone, his hand hanging out of the window. Aleks tried to formulate a plan, but knew he didn’t have much time. He jumped to his feet, twisting around and pointing the gun at the head of the driver.

The driver, a man in his thirties, paused, looking up at Aleks with eyes wide open. Aleks silently motioned to the phone with his gun, and the man hung it up, tossing it in the seat next to him. 

Aleks, as he anticipated, found himself frozen. He could feel his forearms shake, but tried his best to steady himself. 

He looked at the man, trying to analyze who he could be. Was he a father, a husband? Someone with a big family, a dog, and a house with a big, white fence? Aleks couldn’t determine, but got nauseous at the thought of actually _taking somebody’s life_. This man, unlike the few others the group had killed, had done nothing wrong. He hadn’t shot first, hadn’t gotten in Aleks’s way, hadn’t injured anyone. This man didn’t deserve what Aleks had to do to him.

“Look, i-if you just want money, I––” The noise of a gunshot, Aleks’s gunshot, cut off the man’s words. Blood began pouring out of the side of his head, and Aleks nearly yelled at the sight. He noticed James and Brett had began running towards the car, but Aleks found himself frozen. Brett ran around to Aleks’s side as James waited on the opposite, and glanced for a second at Aleks’s work.

“Good job,” Brett smiled, patting Aleks on the back, startling him. Brett opened the door and the lifeless body shifted, sliding towards the ground. Aleks turned around and threw up. 

Brett kicked the rest to the pavement and unlocked the doors, throwing his bag in the passenger’s seat. James jumping in the back with the other bags, and Aleks weakly joined him.

Brett shut his door and locked the others, starting up the car and speeding out of the parking lot. 

“You know how to get home from here?” James asked, buckling himself in. 

“More or less,” Brett responded. “We just can’t cross paths with the cops.”

Aleks remained silent, trying to ignore the remaining queasiness, the murder replaying over and over in his memory. He glanced out the window, resting his arm on the sill and holding his head in his hand. All he wanted to do was get home and rest.

“Hey,” James said softly, leaning in towards Aleks. “You alright?”

“I fucking killed someone,” Aleks choked out, still in disbelief.

“Al, it’s fine,” James responded, placing a hand on his shoulder for comfort.  
“No, it’s fucking not,” Aleks shook James’s hand off quickly, his voice rising in level. “I murdered someone. He wasn’t even doing anything. He probably had a family, kids, maybe a sick grandma, I don’t––”

“Aleks,” James said in a more serious tone. “For all you know, he could’ve been a terrible fucking person. Think of the greater good, here. You killed someone and took his car so we could get back. And all this money here that his car is helping to transport? It’s feeding people. That guy just helped seven people _live_.”

Aleks paused, taking James’s words into account. Like always, he was right. It was sick and twisted, but he was right.

“I killed someone and took his car,” Aleks slowly repeated back, “to help seven people live?”

“Like Robin Hood, almost.”

“I killed someone,” Aleks laughed. “I fucking killed someone, to help us fucking live.”

“Yeah, you did,” James looked at him, concerned. Brett glanced back in the rearview mirror to see what was going on.

Aleks continued laughing for another minute. It turned almost hysterical, Aleks holding his stomach from how hard he was laughing. 

“Aleks,” Brett called from up front. “You okay, buddy?”

“Hell yeah, I’m okay,” Aleks’s voice broke with laughter. “I fucking killed someone. I just saved all of our asses.”

“Yeah, you did,” James said, confused by Aleks. He looked at Brett in the mirror, who shrugged.

“You should’ve seen him, he had no idea what was coming. I came in so sneaky, and just fuckin’ shot him. He was clueless,” Aleks boasted. 

“Alright, buddy, let’s tone it down,” Brett said. 

Aleks stopped, but kept smiling. He felt proud for the whole night, and made it a point to tell _everyone_ the next day. 

Aleks would never forget his first kill.


	2. All Things Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things weren’t always like this.

James often spent the better half of nighttime awake. 

He more often than not found himself restless in bed in the early hours before sunrise, unable to fall back asleep. He would roll out of bed, grab a bathrobe, and open the sliding door to his bedroom balcony, making his way out to sit in peaceful silence. An occasional breeze would blow and momentarily dissipate the leftover heat from the September day. Los Angeles twinkled in the night, and James felt so close, yet so far from the city; but at least he couldn’t hear the traffic from the hills. 

Things weren’t always like this.

James found himself caught up in the ‘what ifs’ and ‘should haves’ of the past. What if he had stayed with the Hub? Could it have worked out? Because hell, even Cow Chop made it look more stable and financially secure.

The Hub had been respectable for a handful of years, but their location in Santa Monica wasn’t exactly ideal. In the later years pre-split, James had been eager to see the other cities in the county. He hated how Jordan had kept them rooted in a dying city because of previous gang ties. Jordan had become almost like a tyrant; at first for the Hub, the responsibility was _shared_ and _everyone_ was able to have a say. Jordan acted on his own, for himself and not the group.

However, it wasn't just James and Aleks's feelings that compelled them to leave. Jordan was the textbook definition of careless, throwing around disrespect and pushing the limits when even Dan insisted that it wasn't possible. There was a time when James remembered Aleks being stuck at medical for months: Spencer had deemed it possible then that Aleks might not be able to walk again after critical injuries from a beating in a fight, mixed with gunshots while the gang was still able to flee. _That_ was when James realized that he had to get out. And thank God Aleks was able to see it too.

Cow Chop, having been started only a few months back, wasn’t moving as quickly as James would’ve hoped. Brett had assured him that this was a normal start for newer gangs, but that didn’t calm James’s anxiety. James, compared to the others (well, maybe excluding Brett), was well off. He had been a part of the Hub in its prime, and had even tried a few solo heists: all successful, and fruitful. He had the funds to support himself, but Cow Chop wasn’t on its feet quite yet. He had five other members he had to worry about and provide for, which took a deep emotional toll on James. If they didn’t get up and running quicker, people were going to starve. Lose their homes, even. He was constantly worried to the point of sleep deprivation and weight loss; or so Asher’s ‘medical opinion’ had told him. 

James picked up the withered box of Marlboro Reds from the balcony table, examining the label; they had been a gift from Brett for his birthday. James had fallen in and out of the habit, but with the amount of stress on him lately, he had picked it back up. Aleks was the only other in the group who smoked, and was much more frequent and unrelenting with it. Pulling a cigarette out and placing it in his mouth, James traded the box for his lighter and lit it up. He took a short drag as he placed it between his fingers.

James supposed there were a few good things he could be positive about; and most of those involved Brett. Brett was the reason they were able to leave the Hub for Los Angeles, and find a decently sized warehouse space to operate out of. He threw in his own funds when he knew James couldn’t, and surprised the crew with brunch on the occasion. Brett, with his knowledge of the city, was also able to network for the group. He was fiercely respected because of his experience, and was known to be ruthless in deals and combat. Brett had more experience in the scene than the whole group combined; and James couldn’t’ve gotten luckier.

Despite their situation, the crew was what kept James going in times like these. Joe’s positivity, Aleks’s jokes, Asher and Anna’s dedication, even Trevor’s inexperience made James emotionally attached to each member. Even beyond emotions, everyone was able to hold their own. 

Joe was the mediator, able to stop infighting and violence as soon as it started. He kept the group from tearing apart.

Anna was the Computer Science degree holder, with hacking skills beyond what James expected from a girl like her. She was the brains of the logistics of each job.

Asher had went to med school for two years, but dropped out because of lack of interest. Though, he was the smartest medic James had encountered; he kept everyone alive.

Trevor was the baby of the group. Barely college graduate age, James felt personally responsible for his life and wellbeing. He wasn’t street smart enough, but he was a good enough jack of all trades to do menial tasks around the warehouse.

And then, there was Aleks. Leader, good cop, reckless and dangerous, agile yet clumsy, master of arms. He was James’s foil, yet his partner in crime. James couldn’t work without him. 

Waning in and out of thought, James had only just noticed the sun had began to rise. The sky was a gradient of gold and pink, with only a few small scattered clouds. The city buildings and trees reflected the sun’s rays, glistening as they had in the night. Taking another drag of the cigarette, James pulled his phone out from his robe pocket to check the time. _5:45 a.m_ , it read.

The daytime tranquility was broken by light scratching at the door, and James already knew what it was. Ein never missed an opportunity to bug him for her breakfast. 

James finished off the cigarette before putting it out on the table, tossing the remains over the balcony edge. He took one last deep breath of the morning air, and slowly exhaled. He knew he had a long day ahead of him; and hell, if he couldn’t change the past, he might as well shoot for the future.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on [tumblr](http://jameswilsun.tumblr.com/)!


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